I always enjoy reading reports from others. There are not too many from SA so here is a short report from a popular spot close to Adelaide.

For the last weekend of March my brother and I headed from Adelaide to the Deep Creek Conservation Park.

We arrived at Tapanappa Campground in the late afternoon on the Friday night, set up our tent and decided walk along a small stretch of the Heysen Trail to Boat Harbor Beach, carrying our trangia to cook dinner. The first part of this walk is an unsealed road along a ridge. From the beginning there are views of the sea. It then descends on a track through scrub. It was the week before the official walking season commenced. There were lots of spider webs across the track suggesting it is not as popular a route. It is relatively steep for the last couple of hundred metres to the stony beach. It took about an hour to walk to beach. My brother constructed a makeshift windshield from a bit of a bucket that had washed up on the beach. I unpacked the trangia and then realised I had forgotten to bring matches. We walked back to camp for dinner. Valuable lesson learned. From now matches are stored with the trangia.

On Saturday we started walking just before 7am. Our goal was Eagle Waterhole Campground via Deep Creek Cove. We had close to five litres of water each and a two-man tent. In the end we did not need to take all the water, or the tent at all. After commencing on a dirt road past Tapanappa Lookout, the track then descends steeply to a small cove, before climbing higher before the steep descent to Deep Creek Cove. We arrived just before 8am. The creek was barely flowing and easy to cross. It was not true to its name at this particular point. We explored the cove, and then followed the other side of the creek for about 70 metres to pick up the track, which ascends inland. We found a small rocky outcrop just off the track to stand on to view the first main bend of creek. We then walked through fields of yaccas and arrived at Trig Campground for breakfast just after 9am. (The Trig Campground had water and toliets and blue wrens).

From Trig Campground we walked North on along the road for 500 metres before turning roughly West to join the Heysen Trail for a part of the walk we would retrace the next day. Initially the track follows the southern side of a fence line it is then rises and falls to cross a number of valleys. The trail then meets a fire track which we followed to head North along the ridge for about 400 metres before descending to Eagle Waterhole Campground. We arrived just after noon and had a hot lunch. The Campground is on the Heysen Trail. It cannot be accessed by road by the public. It has a hikers hut. It is enclosed on three sides, and sleeps at least six bunks with more room on the floor. There is also a water tank and an outside table. As we had made good time after lunch we left our packs, and continued for a few hundred metres along the Heysen before joining the Aaron Creek Hike to the sea. The hike follows the creek before climbing to about 100 metres before a fairly steep descent to the Aaron Creek cove. The cove has orange lichen covered rocks and opportunities for rock scrambling along the cliffs on the western side of the cove. This is a great spot. We returned back to the hut for dinner. It took just over an hour each way. After dinner we walked back up the hill to watch the sunset and kangaroos. We lost count of how many we saw on the walk.

On Sunday morning, we were up early and left by 6:30am. We retraced our steps from the previous day along the Heysen Trail to the road that leads to Trig Campground. However, instead of heading towards Trig Campground we crossed the road and continued on the Heysen Trail back to Tapanappa Campground. We stopped at and climbed the Deep Creek waterfall on the way. It was flowing even though there had not been significant rain for months. We were back at Tapanappa by about 10:30am.

It was a good overnight walk close to Adelaide, with a variety of scenery and good bit of exercise, especially when you carry unnecessary amounts of water.

Very nice. Very different lighting to my recent trip.Incidentally, Deep Creek is never 'deep', it is named due to the deep incision of its valley.As is its counterpart near Adelaide in the Adelaide Hills

Thanks for clarifying that. So it is true to its name as long as you don't take it to refer to the depth of water. I had heard that the creek can require you to get your feet wet to cross at some times in the year. Is that correct? I think the walk would be more challenging in winter after significant rain. Less light to walk by and the steep valleys would be much more slippery. Would be interested too see your photos eggs to compare and contrast the light.

beardless wrote:Thanks for clarifying that. So it is true to its name as long as you don't take it to refer to the depth of water. I had heard that the creek can require you to get your feet wet to cross at some times in the year. Is that correct?

Did it as a daywalk something like 15 years ago. From memory the water was not even ankle deep.

Of course, a big storm hit SA two days later. Would have been interesting to see it after that.

Surprised how dry it all looks compared to my previous visits. Last time we went to deep creek the minimum water depth was over our knees. Eagle waterhole looks really dry! It was green everywhere last time.

I may get to put a few up, but I have been through Deep Creek a number of times.I have done the loop walk via the cove and waterfall 4 times.The first was a long time ago - but this scan from a photo back then illustrates that the lagoon can get quite big - but that is a phenomenon of the high tide invading.

Descending to Deep Creek Cove

We had the same conditions on another walk - but ended up wading the lagoon at mostly ankle depth.

Deep Creek Cove with the tide in - Sept 2012

It has been very easy crossing on the other occasions.

The main one already reported was when we did your loop walk in Sept 2012 as part of the Cape Jervis to Tungkallilla section reported as a sub part of "Heysen Trail, Cape Jervis to Victor Harbor" report at http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7641The last time was 20-21st of April this year. And yes, the difference March to April had brought a lot more green.